TESU or WGU? Advice needed, Ground 0, want to be as realistic as possible!

[OP88]

Hi all,

I really need some advice on whether I should pick TESU or WGU for my Bachelors in Computer Science.

TLDR Background:
Out of the work force for more than a decade
Had some coding experience, but not much. No certification.
No college credit


I have done quite a bit of self studying through the years so I know I have the discipline to handle that part. However since I have never done any college work before so I really don't know myself in terms of how well I could handle that. What I do know is however difficult it may be, I'm willing to work through it.

I have 6 months to a year open, full time, no distraction/life obligation to complete this degree

I intend to maximize my credit transfer

I am looking for the cheapest and fastest way to complete this degree, I've been going back and forth between TESU and WGU.

Which one would you pick and why if you're in my shoes?



Thank you for your help!

[bjcheung77]

Now, it's your turn to answer questions just because we love answering yours, it's best to have more info for us to get a bigger picture. I assume you've not read a few of my threads yet in regards to TESU and the Pell Grant/Residency Waiver. Anyways, I only have one simple question - do you have workplace tuition reimbursement? Are you working and is that position part of a union? Which state are you in?

[rachel83az]

WGU is roughly 75% AOS courses and 25% gen eds

TESU is roughly 33% AOS and 66% gen eds.


Gen eds are usually faster and easier to complete.  But some people hate them.  It's really up to you and how you feel about everything. I, personally, would not choose WGU even if it was guaranteed to be significantly less expensive than TESU.

[OP88]

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WGU is roughly 75% AOS courses and 25% gen eds

TESU is roughly 33% AOS and 66% gen eds.


Gen eds are usually faster and easier to complete.  But some people hate them.  It's really up to you and how you feel about everything. I, personally, would not choose WGU even if it was guaranteed to be significantly less expensive than TESU.

Is that the only reason why you chose TESU over WGU, the lack of gen eds so slower/more difficult?

[rachel83az]

Not the only reason. It was a consideration, with 90-something Sophia credits to my name, but it wasn't the only reason. As I mentioned in another thread, WGU wants to call you regularly. That's just not for me. I also don't want to deal with any more live proctors than strictly necessary. I don't mind Study.com's proctors but I hate live proctors. $3k every 6 months is just a no-go, especially with the whole pandemic situation. Things have been chaos over the past year and I can't imagine trying to cram all that study and all of those exams into just 6 months. Yikes.

Finally, I'm currently not even located in the US. So, even if I wanted to, WGU wouldn't work for me.

[OP88]

Now, it's your turn to answer questions just because we love answering yours, it's best to have more info for us to get a bigger picture. I assume you've not read a few of my threads yet in regards to TESU and the Pell Grant/Residency Waiver. Anyways, I only have one simple question - do you have workplace tuition reimbursement? Are you working and is that position part of a union? Which state are you in?

I'm located in Arizona and I'm not working at the moment. Yes I have read both of your threads regarding Residency Waiver vs Taking courses at WGU and Options for 16 Credits to Rid of Residency Waiver Fee, I have been lurking this site for many hours but forgive me a lot of this information is going over my head as I have not done any of this before. I even printed them out so I could go back to it when I start understanding the process of things. I haven't even started looking into grant/scholarships yet. I don't even know basic things like if grant/scholarships cover any of say study.com courses or the residential waiver...stuff I gotta look into still. Maybe I'm doing it all wrong but I figure I should settle on which school to go to first before going into the details? TESU sounds good but then I was thinking what if I could finish WGU in 1 term after transferring the maximum amount of credit I could save thousands...but then I don't know myself enough to know if I could finish in 1 term. But then reading your post about pell grants, seems like TESU could end up to be <$3k but then I have to enroll in 3 terms? But then I'm not sure if I'm eligible for Pell Grants...and do I have to do 3 terms or can I finish sooner if I could? Sorry for this wall of text, it's not that I didn't want to read/research, it's just I'm trying to process a lot of these foreign concepts and having a bit of a hard time.

Edit: Ok, after reading your Pell Grant thread for the 3rd time, I'm starting to get it. So basically if I qualify for Pell Grants, it would be $3k for 9 months at TESU (seems like the study.com discount is no longer available) vs $3.3k for 6 months at WGU. So in essence would it be a no brainer to go with TESU...around the same price but safer choice just in case I don't finish within 6 months at WGU? Can I do 9 credits per term / 2 terms at TESU to further reduce the time needed to graduate?

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Not the only reason. It was a consideration, with 90-something Sophia credits to my name, but it wasn't the only reason. As I mentioned in another thread, WGU wants to call you regularly. That's just not for me. I also don't want to deal with any more live proctors than strictly necessary. I don't mind Study.com's proctors but I hate live proctors. $3k every 6 months is just a no-go, especially with the whole pandemic situation. Things have been chaos over the past year and I can't imagine trying to cram all that study and all of those exams into just 6 months. Yikes.

Finally, I'm currently not even located in the US. So, even if I wanted to, WGU wouldn't work for me.

Thank you for your insight! That's kinda what i need to hear, like how realistic it is to finish in 6 months, and the general experience with each school. Looks like TESU it is!

[MNomadic]

OP88, if I were you I would look at degree plans for both programs and look at what overlaps. Start taking all the courses that would work for either college(a large amount of gen eds) then, you don't have to decide/commit to any one program immediately, but you'll at least start progressing to your overall goal. Don't become paralyzed by over analysis (I've done this many times in my life). Just start.

[rachel83az]

OP88, if I were you I would look at degree plans for both programs and look at what overlaps. Start taking all the courses that would work for either college(a large amount of gen eds) then, you don't have to decide/commit to any one program immediately, but you'll at least start progressing to your overall goal. Don't become paralyzed by over analysis (I've done this many times in my life). Just start.

That's a good point. At a glance, courses that would work for both include: 

Sophia: 
English Comp I (not really recommended but better than Sophia's English Comp II)
Introduction to Statistics
Environmental Science and/or Human Biology (WGU only takes one, TESU would want both)
Introduction to Ethics (take Greek Philosophers first to make it easier)
Microeconomics OR Macroeconomics OR US History I OR US History II OR Introduction to Psychology OR Introduction to Sociology (TESU will use all, WGU just wants one)
Introduction to Information Technology
Project Management

Study.com: 
Computer Science 109: Introduction to Programming
Math 108: Discrete Mathematics
Computer Science 201: Data Structures & Algorithms
Computer Science 303: Database Management
Computer Science 306: Computer Architecture

Study.com or CLEP or StraighterLine or Saylor:
Calculus

There are also other courses that you could take at Sophia (if you have time left) that would count towards TESU but not WGU.

[Vle045]

You mentioned that you are in AZ. Have you also considered Northern Arizona University? They have a BA and a BS in Computer Science in a competency based program. It is $3000 for 6 months. If you can pound out a lot of gen ed classes in advance, you *might* be able to get it done in 6 months.
https://nau.edu/online/bs-computer-infor...nology-pl/

[rachel83az]

The problem with NAU is that they don't appear to readily accept alternate credit sources.